“What is that?” Jack asked, pointing at a black slick on the surface of the deep blue waters of the Atlantic.  

His wife, Sandra, looked up from the chaise lounge she was currently sunning herself on.  “What’s what, Jack?”

“I think it’s an oil spill,” he said, leaning over the railing of the yacht for a closer look.

“Just relax Honey.  We’re supposed to be on vacation,” she responded, putting her head back down.

“There’s something not quite right…”  He leaned over further.  The black slick was moving against the current, towards the boat.  

“It’s an oil spill, we’ll call FEMA or whoever when we get into port.”

The black slick was almost at the edge of the yacht.  Jack backed away from the railing.  Something wasn’t quite right.  Even though it was sunny without a cloud in the sky, and the breeze seemed to have died down completely, it felt like the temperature was dropping.  The hair on the back of his neck stood up and gooseflesh ran down his arms.

“Sandra, get below deck,” Jack shouted, turning and running for the helm.  

“What?” she asked, sitting up, concern in her voice.

“Get below deck!” he shouted.

The black slick had spread around the boat, completely engulfing it.  What had started as ten-foot diameter blob had now enveloped the 34 foot yacht.  Jack turned on the boat’s engine, looking around at the spreading slick.  Sandra followed him up onto the helm.

“What is that Jack?”

“I told you to go below deck.  I’m gonna get us out of here.”

“Jack, I’m scared.”

“It’s nothing to worry about.  Like you said, it’s an oil spill.  We’ll go back to port and let someone know and they can clean it up,” he said, trying to reassure his wife.  It was no oil spill; every fiber of his being screamed that it was something much worse.  Even as the motor roared to life, the black slick began to ripple, out of sync with the rest of the crystal blue waters.

Jack began to swear under his breath.  The motor was running, but the yacht wasn’t moving.  Behind him, Sandra was praying.

The ripples originated from two points on either side of the boat.  The epicenters rose up slowly from the surface, the opaque semiliquid pooling into growing columns extending from the ocean’s surface.

“Go Jack, go!” Sandra was screaming.

“I’m trying!”

The two black columns filled out, quivering  as they twist skywards, towering above the boat.  The starboard column curves inward, leaning over the boat, followed seconds later by the port one.  

They’re not columns, Jack realizes even as they come crashing downwards to his yacht.  They’re tentacles.

The deck snaps as the tentacles bear down across them, wrapping around the hull of the boat.

Jack turns away from the helm.  The boat isn’t going anywhere.  He grabs his wife, telling her that he loves her.  

More tentacles grow from the surface, wrapping over the boat and crushing it down to splinters.

Within minutes, the yacht is gone.  An orange lifejacket floats away from a small black blob moving against the current, heading up the coast.



Anna watched smartly dressed Asian woman approaching her with mild curiosity.  A parent of a potential student, maybe.  

Anna had been alone in the teachers' lounge, pretending to grade papers on her lunch.  “Can I help you?” she asked the woman.

“Yes, I need to speak with you about Siren.”

Anna moved with startling speed, getting up from the counter she was leaning on and grabbing the woman, spinning her around and slamming her against the wall.  Her foot shot out, kicking the lounge door closed.

“Tell me who the hell you are,” she hissed, her hands tightly gripping the woman’s shoulders, pinning her against the wall.

“My name is Liv Hoonan.  I’m a publicist, I work for the LC,” the woman responded, unshaken by Anna’s sudden and violent outburst.

Anna released her, stepping back.  “You couldn’t have come to my home, or, I don’t know, called?  I work here.”

Liv looked around the room.  “We’re alone.”

“This is the teachers' lounge, for all of the teachers, any of whom could walk in at any second.”

Liv shrugged.  “I thought it was better to meet face to face, and I’m a busy woman.”

“What do you want?” Anna asked, still eyeing the door nervously.

“I would like to help.  You’re becoming a more well known figure, and the rate you’re going, you’re in danger of starting off with a reputation you don’t want and might not be able to shake.  I would like to shape your image, to make sure that you are seen as the Heroine you want to be.”

Anna hesitated.  “Look, that sounds great, but do you have like a card I could get.  I wouldn’t mind some pointers, but I have to teach in ten minutes, and whatever I do as a Super Heroine, I would like to keep my day job.  And my identity a secret.  And to be perfectly honest, it worries me that you’re kind of callous about that last one.”

“Well,” Liv said, pulling a business card out of her pocket.  “It’s been eight years since Cromwell.  This country has a short attention span.  With the proper guidance, you could be back in the LC, with no need for all this,” she gestured at the dingy lounge.  “But do call soon.  There are other rising stars.”

Anna took the card from her as she turned and left.  She looked at the card.  Liv Hoonan, Super Hero Publicist.  The embossed LC logo was stamped in the corner.

“Huh,” she said, tucking the card into her back pocket.  



Anna had been distracted for the rest of the day, having her students read while she googled Liv Hoonan.  Anna had to admit she had an impressive resume.  Not only did she work with the LC, she had been part of the PR team that had been behind the switch from the Legendary Consortium to the simpler, less ominous sounding LC, rebranding the whole team.  Before that she’d work for several famous actors and actresses, and on two political campaigns.

“How much do you think someone like that is gonna charge for her services?” Macy asked.  She’d met her sister at a diner after Anna got off.

“I’m probably an investment.  She’ll put in a little work for me pro-bono, and if she really thinks she can get me back in the LC, then she’ll have her hand out.  She’s got to know if she’s expecting money now, she’s barking up the wrong tree.”

“Would you though?” Macy asked.

“Hire her?  Probably, I could really use the help.”

“No, would you rejoin the LC?”

Anna pursed her lips.  There was a time when she would have said not in a million years, but time had healed the old wounds of her forced retirement.  It wasn’t entirely their fault they had to distance themselves from her.  “I don’t know.  I mean, it would be nice to go back to being a Super Heroine full time, not having to worry about maintaining an alter ego, a job, worrying about keeping the lights on.”

Macy pushed a lone piece of lettuce around her plate with her fork.  “That’s great and all, but you remember there were other reasons you were glad to leave the LC.  I know you technically answer to them, being licensed and all, but you get to do what you want.  If you join up, there’s no more helping the little guy.  You like flying under the radar, getting to do what you want.”

“Yes, the LC’s not perfect.  But neither is this.  And if I do this, it doesn’t mean I have to join again.  It just might open the door.  Either way, it won’t hurt to hear this publicist out.”

“I’m just playing devil’s advocate.  If you were sure you wanted this, you would have called this Liv Hoonan instead of me.”

Anna gave a small half smile.  “You are, as usual, right.  She was just so professional.  I think she found me at work just to throw me off my game.  I need to know what I want when I call her.”

“Good.  If you do it, great, but just so you know, I think you’ll be fine on your own.  With my help of course.  Speaking of, I have some ideas for your new costume.  I left them at home, but I think you’ll like them.  I’ll show you at dinner tomorrow.”

Anna sat bolt upright.  “Macy, I’m having dinner with you and your girlfriend tomorrow, who doesn’t know what I do.  Ellen doesn’t know, does she?” she asked, worried.

“Oh, right.  No, of course she doesn’t know.  Well, I’ll show them to you later.”  

Anna relaxed.  “It’s bad enough that I’ve got a publicist for the LC showing up at work calling me Siren, I don’t need you telling people.”

Macy looked hurt.  “Ellen’s not people.  We’ve been together for over three years, would it really be the worst thing in the world if she knew?  I just hate keeping this big secret from her.”

“Macy, it’s bad enough that you know,” Anna said, regretting the words as soon as they left her mouth.

Macy was stunned.  “Oh.”

“I didn’t mean it like that.”

“Then how did you mean it?”

“I worry about you.  I’m not back in the game two months and I already have some lunatic kidnap me and threaten to steal my voice.  She knows who I am.  There’s a reason other than my power that I don’t really have any friends.  I’ve chosen a dangerous path that puts anyone close to me in potential danger, and yes, I’m fully aware that you’re the only reason I started doing this in the first place, but I’m still allowed to worry about you.”

Macy beamed.  “I totally am the reason.”

“And I don’t like the position I put you in with Ellen.  I like her too, but for now, could you please just continue to keep my secret?”

“You know I will.  I’m not sure I even could.  You’ve told me so many times explicitly not to, I have no idea if that’s worn off yet or not.”

“Let me see where this publicist thing goes, and then we can think about maybe telling her.”

“I can work with that.  So you’re going to call her?”

“Yeah, I think I will.”  Anna pulled out the business card again, rolling it over in her fingers.  “It can’t hurt to hear her out.”